Arroz Con Gandules (Puerto Rican Rice with Pigeon Peas)

There’s nothing more quintessentially Puerto Rican than arroz con gandules. It’s part of our national dish (along with Pernil). For holidays, birthdays, baby showers, and more, if there’s a party, this dish will be there. Everyone has a little twist on how they prepare this dish, but here’s my version. Buen Provecho!

To make this dish properly, I believe you can only use one kind of pot, a caldero.

Caldero literally translated into cauldron. It’s similar to a Dutch oven, but instead of being made from cast iron, it’s usually fabricated from aluminum. Every self-respecting Puerto Rican household has one. The tapered edges and rounded bottom allows for steam to circulate through the rice, and produced a fluffy texture that is more difficult to achieve in a regular stock pot. These pots are also great for braising meats, stews and soups, and are oven safe (with a metal knob).

So heat your caldero or Dutch oven to medium heat, and add your olive oil and sofrito. Stir constantly until fragrant and tender, but not browned, about 4 minutes. You would then add in your ham, if desired. I didn’t use any for this batch, as my client doesn’t eat pork.

Next add in your Sazon.

Next up, add in your tomato sauce and chicken bouillon. This process of adding the dried ingredients helps wake up the flavors of these items, allowing them to bloom.

Next, add your water, Italian seasoning, cilantro, bay leaves, and olives. Bring the mixture to a boil, then taste for salt. If it needs more saltiness, add in a sprinkle of Adobo until it’s well seasoned. You want this liquid to be highly seasoned, as it will determine the final seasoning of the rice.

Next, it’s time to add your pigeon peas! Pigeon peas, popular throughout the Caribbean West Indies, are small, oval beans with a nutty flavor. They can be found fresh, frozen, canned or dried. They are a bright green color when fresh. If you can get them fresh or frozen (I’ve found them in NJ Latin Food Markets), go for it, they’re even more flavorful and nutty. If you can’t find them, you can substitute with canned pinto, pink or red beans and it’ll still be delish!

Once the mixture comes up to a boil again, add in your rice. Parboiled rice is my favorite for this recipe because it’s almost impossible to end up with mushy rice. You want the grains of rice to be loose and not sticky. Parboiled rice has been partially cooked, so some of the starch has been removed. This makes the rice less sticky, which is this case, is exactly what we want.

Don’t mind my ridiculously full pot, I was making 10 lbs of rice, and I definitely pushed the limits of this pan!

Stir the rice to get it submerged and distribute the pigeon peas throughout. Allow the rice to absorb all the visible liquid, uncovered.

Once most of the visible surface liquid is absorbed, stir and cover the rice, lower the flame to low, and allow it to steam for 20-25 minutes. It’s done with all the liquid is absorbed and the grains are fluffy and fully cooked.

Serve to a delighted crowd of friends and family!

This recipe freezes very well, so make a big batch and portion it into storage bags for a quick weeknight side dish. To reheat, transfer into a microwave safe bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Microwave for a few minutes, stirring occasionally until the rice is hot & fluffy.

Stir constantly until fragrant and tender, but not browned, about 4 minutes.

Next add in the Sazon, tomato sauce and chicken bouillon. Stir to combine.

Add the water, Italian seasoning, cilantro, bay leaves, and olives.

Allow the liquid to come up to a boil, and taste it for salt. If it needs more saltiness, add in a sprinkle of Adobo until it's well seasoned. You want this liquid to be highly seasoned, as it will determine the final seasoning of the rice.

Add in the drained pigeon peas, then bring the mixture back up to a boil.

Once the mixture is boiling, add the rice.

Stir the rice to get it submerged and distribute the pigeon peas throughout.

Allow the rice to absorb all the visible liquid, uncovered.

Once most of the visible surface liquid is absorbed, stir and cover the rice, lower the flame to low, and allow it to steam for 20-25 minutes.

It's done with all the liquid is absorbed and the grains are fluffy and fully cooked.

Hi Ginelle! I use parboiled rice (that’s the type of rice) because it’s had a bit of the starch removed, so it prevents the rice from sticking. If you use regular long grain white rice you’ll want to use a 2-1 ratio for the liquid to rice.

Thank you for sharing your recipe I have been asking my family to show me how to make this I am so happy to have a recipe my Dad was from P.R. I was so young when they divorced I never learned to cook Latin food or speak Spanish so I am very thankful for your help I will let you know how it turns out thanks so much Jackie Jimenez Collins

Next week is my neighbors 70th birthday party. I wanted to make something rather authentic to take and found your site. YAY!! I am planning to bring this this rice dish along with your Pernil recipe. I’m pretty confident on the Pernil but wanted to make the rice at least once before hand to make sure I got it right I purchased a Caldero, which personally I think that made a world of difference, and using the parpoiled rice I have to say I have achieved rice perfection like my neighbor (now I know the secret.) While I can’t say I did true justice to this dish, I think I did a pretty good job. Lovely dish with well developed flavors. Thank you for sharing.

I never heard anyone using ham in the puerto rican sofrito .I come from a really huge puerto rican family and we all make our own sofrito not one of us uses ham or any protein but ppl have different ways of making it .

I sm going to try it maybe it will come out as good as when i was in puerto rico when i was young i use to cook dishes like this. Homemade sofrito is only veggies but people do put ham in the dish to add a meat flavor but it is good by itself.

I’d only be worried about having sofrito sit in the fridge for days with meat in it. If you make it with ham, I suggest freezing portions in little cups or ice cubes so that it stays fresh until you’re ready to use it.

Let me clarify something. I am authentic puertorican. Sofrito does not have pork. Granted. However if you want to make an authentic arroz con gandules, the first thing you put in that caldero after you heat the oil is either diced ham or some diced pork rib. Don’t take my word and check authentic recipes of Puerto Rican arroz con gandules and you will see. The “bible” of Puerto Rican cookery is a book that the original edition came out in 1954, called Cocine a Gusto by Carmen Aboy de Valdejulli, you will find it in amazon or any other good book store. Check her arroz con gandules recipe and you will see that it does have pork. Needless to say, if you do not want to add pork that is your prerogative. I hope this clarifies the different opinions on the arroz con gandules with or without pork

Loved the ingredients of your recipe, I will definitely try it and let you know my impression. Let me clarify something, I am a native born puertorrican. Sofrito does not have pork. Granted. However if you want to make an authentic arroz con gandules, the first thing you put in that caldero after you heat the oil is either diced ham or some diced pork rib. Don’t take my word and check authentic recipes of Puerto Rican arroz con gandules and you will see. The “bible” of Puerto Rican cookery is a book that the original edition came out in 1954, called Cocine a Gusto by Carmen Aboy de Valdejulli, you will find it in amazon or any other good book store. Check her arroz con gandules recipe and you will see that it does have pork. Needless to say, if you do not want to add pork that is your prerogative. I hope this clarifies the different opinions on the arroz con gandules with or without pork

I never heard of the ham in sofrito either. Maybe she was talking about the ham in the recipe. You know when you buy GOYA Recaito, it is the same ingredients as making homemade sofrito. Maybe that is why the dish came out so good! I have been making rice and gandules for years, but I tried it this time with your chicken bouillon, good idea. I used Long grain rice and measure by eye. Then, I put my rice in before the water. I stir the rice inside of all the seasonings and beans and let it take the flavors, then I add the water. It makes a difference. But Great Recipe!

I’ve watched the mamitas of my Puerto Rican friends in New York City make arroz con gandules and they never used cilantro in anything they cooked, not in the arroz con pollo nor guisos nor anything but in America now on tv they always promote it in Cuban and Puerto Rican dishes but I’ve never seen it used. No chance anybody put it in and served it to me to fool me, because that strong soapy taste is really harsh if you’re not used to it. Also, if it’s eliminated the dish will still be delicious.

Hi Phyllis, you are correct, cilantro is not the most traditional ingredient in this recipe, as culantro is the preferred herb of the island. Similar in flavor, it looks like broad wide leaves, almost like dandelion leaves. Since that is rather difficult to find unless you have a Latin market in your area, I substitute cilantro most of the time for ease. Did you know, about 8%-10% of people find that cilantro tastes like soap to them? It’s a generic phenomenon! As you mentioned, the dish is perfectly fine without it, I just love the herby freshness if gives the dish. Thanks for stopping by!

Thank you so much for the tip about the rice! Growing up, my Puerto Rican mother always made arroz con pollo and the rice was never mushy. She never measured the rice just poured into the liquid and knew when it was enough and cooked to perfection. I had forgotten she used Uncle Ben’s brand of rice until I read your recipe. I’ve made arror con gandules with several different brands of rice trying to achieve the texture and consistency of Uncle Ben’s rice. I never could get it right and then I tried your recipe. Aaaahhh, it turned out perfectly! The consistency is exactly how my mother’s rice would turn out. From now on, I will only use parboiled rice.

I’m currently making this recipe right now and I was a bit confused bc u said put 3.5 cups of water then below it says 3 cups then the chicken bouillon said One teaspoon the one below said one packet hopefully it turns out ok bc I can never make this recipe right but this is my last try but ur directions seem pretty good besides that part

I need to make a big batch, enough to feed 40 people. Should I keep the amount of water equal to the rice (2 cups rice needs 3.5 cups water)? So 8 cups of rice will require 14 cups of water? Or does the water get slightly reduced when making a large amount?
Thanks for your help in advance!

Hi Carolina, rice recipes don’t scale up exactly, but your ratios are a good place to start. If you end up needed more liquid, you can add it in after the rice has absorbed most of the initial liquid. Parboiled rice is very forgiving.

Hi there,.. I was married to a Puerto Rican man for 20 years.. His mother made the best food ever! She liked using small grain rice.. which I love too.. I remember her rinsing the rice many times before putting it in the pot. I am wondering if they produce parboiled short grain rice?

Hello. I’m going to be making this dish for approx 80 people so I want to cook 20lbs of rice 10lbs at a time. I’m going to be using dried grandules. That isn’t my issue though. How much liquid did you use to make the 10lbs of rice. I know long grain rice usually has a 1:1 ratio but what is the rice to liquid ratio for parboiled rice.

HI! I am new to cooking Puerto Rican food so please forgive me if this is a dumb question… what kind of tomato sauce are you putting in the recipie ? When I think tomato sauce I’m thinking Italian tomato sauce but your pics look more like a paste.. I just want to make sure I am doing it right! Thank you so much!!

This is on point. Made it today for Thanksgiving y me gustó muchísimo. I didn’t have aceitunas, so I substituted using 1 small capful of white vinegar. For pork lovers, I used diced tocinos from the butcher, stir fried it a bit with the olive oil and OMG the aroma and taste. Most def a staple dish for our Puertoriqueño Thanksgiving. Happy 2016 Thanksgiving everyone! DIOS LOS BENDIGA SIEMPRE, AMÉN ✌
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[…] What is it: A combination of rice, pigeon peas, and pork, cooked in the same pot with sofrito. It is one of the signature rice dishes of Puerto Rican cuisine. Taste: Like substance of the gods. Conclusion: Pernil + arroz con gandules = #winning Get a recipe here. […]

[…] and I to get together, and have an International feast. We’ve had espagueti verde, causa, arroz con gandules, etc. *drools* So, the only “traditional” custom we follow are to get together, and to […]

Loved loved looooved this! My boyfriend Is puertorican and has been dying for me to cook him some authentic food. I tried it last night and it was a hit! It took him back to his parents cooking. Thank you so much! You are phenomenal! Btw I used your sofrito and it’s super easy/flavorful.

Jannese- Thank you for posting your delicious recipe, I’ve made it several times for family and friends who all loved it. My 26 year old son told me I was cooking like a Puerto Rican grandmother! One of the best compliments ever. ( I’m a 56 year old guy whose ancestry is German and English)
Prepared the rice exactly per your instructions and it’s perfect every time. It’s nice to give the potatoes a break and enjoy arroz con gandules!